On September 6, 1914, some 30 miles northeast of Paris, the French 6th Army under the command of General Michel-Joseph Manoury attacks the right flank of the German 1st Army, beginning the decisive First Battle of the Marne at the end of the first month of World War I.

After invading neutral Belgium and advancing into northeastern France by the end of August 1914, German forces were nearing Paris, spurred on by punishing victories that forced five French armies into retreat after the Battles of the Frontiers at Lorraine, Ardennes, Charleroi and Mons. In anticipation of the German attack, the anxious French government appointed the 65-year-old General Joseph-Simon Gallieni as the military governor of Paris. Gallieni, predicting that the Germans would reach Paris by September 5, did not wish to sit idly back and wait for invasion. In the first days of September, he managed to convince the French commander in chief, Joseph Joffre, to spare him an army—Manoury’s 6th Army—from the front in order to aggressively defend the capital.

At the same time, General Alexander von Kluck, at the head of the German 1st Army, was disobeying orders from its own headquarters to double back and support General Karl von Bulow’s 2nd Army, thus protecting itself from possible attacks from the French on its right flank, from the direction of Paris. Not wanting to subordinate himself to Bulow’s command, Kluck ordered his forces to proceed in their pursuit of the retreating French 5th Army, under General Charles Lanrezac, across the Marne River, which they crossed on September 3. When Gallieni learned of Kluck’s move that morning, he knew the French 6th Army—the new army of Paris—had been given its opportunity to attack the German flank. Without hesitation, he began to coordinate the attack, urging Joffre to support it by resuming the general French offensive earlier than army headquarters had planned.

On September 4, Helmuth von Moltke, chief of the German general staff, learned that Kluck had disobeyed orders, and that his troops—exhausted and depleted of resources, having outrun their lines of supply over the course of their rapid advance—had crossed the Marne. Fearing the attack from Paris on the 1st Army’s exposed flank, Moltke ordered that the march of the 1st and 2nd Armies towards Paris be halted in order to face any threat from that direction. The order came too late, however, as Gallieni had already readied his army for an attack, and Joffre—with help from the British minister of war, Lord H. H. Kitchener—had obtained the promised support of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), commanded by Sir John French, for the French 5th and 6th Armies in their renewed offensive against German forces at the Marne.

On the morning of September 6, the 150,000 soldiers of Manoury’s 6th Army attacked the right flank of the German 1st Army, whose turn to meet the attack opened a 30-mile-gap between Kluck’s forces and Bulow’s 2nd Army. Acting quickly, the French 5th Army—under a new leader, General Louis Franchet d’Esperey, appointed by Joffre to replace Lanrezac—and divisions of the BEF poured into the gap and simultaneously attacked the German 2nd Army. Fierce fighting continued over the next several days, with Manoury’s exhausted army managing to hold its ground only after being reinforced on September 7 by a corps of 6,000 rushed from Paris in taxi cabs. After Franchet d’Esperey’s 5th Army launched a successful surprise attack on the German 2nd Army, Moltke ordered a general German retreat on September 9. Over the next few days, Allies slowly pushed the Germans back towards the Aisne River, where the 1st and 2nd Armies dug in, beginning the entrenchment of positions that would last well into 1918.

The Allied check of the German advance during the Battle of the Marne made the struggle one of the most decisive battles in history. Events at the Marne signaled the demise of Germany’s aggressive two-front war strategy, known as the Schlieffen Plan; they also marked the end of the general belief, held on both sides of the line, that the conflict that broke out in the summer of 1914 would be a short one. As the historian Barbara Tuchman wrote as a conclusion to her book <I>The Guns of August</i> (1962): "The Battle of the Marne was one of the decisive battles of the world not because it determined that Germany would eventually lose or the Allies ultimately win the war but because it determined that the war would go on. There was no looking back, Joffre told the soldiers on the eve. Afterward there was no turning back. The nations were caught in a trap, a trap made during the first thirty days out of battles that failed to be decisive, a trap from which there was, and has been, no exit."

The First Battle of the Marne marked the end of the German sweep into France and the beginning of the trench warfare that was to characterise World War One.

Germany's grand Schlieffen Plan to conquer France entailed a wheeling movement of the northern wing of its armies through central Belgium to enter France near Lille. It would turn west near the English Channel and then south to cut off the French retreat. If the plan succeeded, Germany's armies would simultaneously encircle the French Army from the north and capture Paris.

A French offensive in Lorraine prompted German counter-attacks that threw the French back onto a fortified barrier. Their defence strengthened, they could send troops to reinforce their left flank - a redistribution of strength that would prove vital in the Battle of the Marne. The German northern wing was weakened further by the removal of 11 divisions to fight in Belgium and East Prussia. The German 1st Army, under Kluck, then swung north of Paris, rather than south west, as intended. This required them to pass into the valley of the River Marne across the Paris defences, exposing them to a flank attack and a possible counter-envelopment.

On 3 September, Joffre ordered a halt to the French retreat and three days later his reinforced left flank began a general offensive. Kluck was forced to halt his advance prematurely in order to support his flank: he was still no further up the Marne Valley than Meaux.

On 9 September Bülow learned that the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) was advancing into the gap between his 2nd Army and Kluck. He ordered a retreat, obliging Kluck to do the same. The counterattack of the French 5th and 6th Armies and the BEF developed into the First Battle of the Marne, a general counter-attack by the French Army. By 11 September the Germans were in full retreat.

This remarkable change in fortunes was caused partially by the exhaustion of many of the German forces: some had marched more than 240km (150 miles), fighting frequently. The German advance was also hampered by demolished bridges and railways, constricting their supply lines, and they had underestimated the resilience of the French.

The Germans withdrew northward from the Marne and made a firm defensive stand along the Lower Aisne River. Here the benefits of defence over attack became clear as the Germans repelled successive Allied attacks from the shelter of trenches: the First Battle of the Aisne marked the real beginning of trench warfare on the Western Front.

In saving Paris from capture by pushing the Germans back some 72km (45 miles), the First Battle of the Marne was a great strategic victory, as it enabled the French to continue the war. However, the Germans succeeded in capturing a large part of the industrial north east of France, a serious blow. Furthermore, the rest of 1914 bred the geographic and tactical deadlock that would take another three years and countless lives to break.

September 5th 1914 Saturday German artillery and cavalry near Paris. Reims fallen into the hands of the Germans. The battle of millions at Lemberg is still undecisive—the Austrians have evacuated the town. Gave C. some flowers. September 6th 1914 Sunday Dendermonde is being fired at. B.Zau M. The losses of the British troops have risen from 4,000-10,000 men. Kaiser at Namur. Two forts at Maubeuge have fallen. Went for a motor drive with D (Dittmann). Went to Spandau, Wannsee and returned through Potsdam. Sat next to coz: on the way back—arm-in-arm—it was glorious. Walked with Coz: in the evening.

Private Maurice Duggan Service No. 11252 of the 6th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment, 47th Brigade, 16th (Irish) Division was born in Kill, Co. Waterford to Thomas & Johanna Duggan.
He lived in Bonmahon, Co. Waterford and when he enlisted to fight in the Great War in Waterford City he was still single.
According to official records, Maurice Duggan was 19 years of age when he died of wounds on the 7th June 1917 at the start of the Battle of Messines. It is thought that he was about 17 years old when he enlisted.

The 6th Battalion Royal Irish Regiment was formed at Clonmel on 6th September 1914 as part of the second 100,000 troops, generally known as "K2", required by Lord Kitchener.

There was a time for all things in the world. There was a time for games, there was a time for business, there was a time for domestic life. There was a time for everything, but there is only time for one thing now, and that thing is war. If the cricketer had a straight eye let him look along the barrel of a rifle. If a footballer had strength of limb let them serve and march in the field of battle.

On this day in 1915, a prototype tank nicknamed Little Willie rolls off the assembly line in England. Little Willie was far from an overnight success. It weighed 14 tons, got stuck in trenches and crawled over rough terrain at only two miles per hour. However, improvements were made to the original prototype and tanks eventually transformed military battlefields.

The British developed the tank in response to the trench warfare of World War I. In 1914, a British army colonel named Ernest Swinton and William Hankey, secretary of the Committee for Imperial Defence, championed the idea of an armored vehicle with conveyor-belt-like tracks over its wheels that could break through enemy lines and traverse difficult territory. The men appealed to British navy minister Winston Churchill, who believed in the concept of a "land boat" and organized a Landships Committee to begin developing a prototype. To keep the project secret from enemies, production workers were reportedly told the vehicles they were building would be used to carry water on the battlefield (alternate theories suggest the shells of the new vehicles resembled water tanks). Either way, the new vehicles were shipped in crates labeled "tank" and the name stuck.

The first tank prototype, Little Willie, was unveiled in September 1915. Following its underwhelming performance--it was slow, became overheated and couldn’t cross trenches--a second prototype, known as "Big Willie," was produced. By 1916, this armored vehicle was deemed ready for battle and made its debut at the First Battle of the Somme near Courcelette, France, on September 15 of that year. Known as the Mark I, this first batch of tanks was hot, noisy and unwieldy and suffered mechanical malfunctions on the battlefield; nevertheless, people realized the tank's potential. Further design improvements were made and at the Battle of Cambrai in November 1917, 400 Mark IV’s proved much more successful than the Mark I, capturing 8,000 enemy troops and 100 guns.

Tanks rapidly became an important military weapon. During World War II, they played a prominent role across numerous battlefields. More recently, tanks have been essential for desert combat during the conflicts in the Persian Gulf.

Thank you with all my heart for your letter and the flowers, which have arrived quite fresh. It is cold, rainy, stormy. Vilna was evacuated last night. I hope that in a few days the news from that place will be better. I kiss all fondly.

Twenty-one year old Edward Charles Perkins, the fourth and last fatality of the Royal Australian Naval Bridging Train on Gallipoli, was the only one to be buried on the peninsula, the other deaths in the unit having occurred at sea or on Lemnos Island, Greece.

The personnel of the Bridging Train received five days instruction in the use of pontoon piers before landing under the command of Commander Leighton Bracegirdle at Suvla Bay, Gallipoli, on 7 August 1915. Two days later, under heavy Turkish shellfire, a detachment rowed pontoons two miles to Old ‘A’ Beach where it constructed 120 metres of pier. Within five minutes of its completion, the British were evacuating their wounded from the pier. On 15 August, a member of the unit recorded in his diary:

Very heavy fighting has been going on all week and our casualties are heavy. We have passed 965 wounded through our hands one day and 956 the next.
[Sergeant Alfred Ernest Miles, Diary, PR00806, AWM]

Their work over the next four months was frequently carried out under heavy fire with more than sixty of the unit being wounded, injured or evacuated suffering from illness. On 6 September 1915, Chief Petty Officer Perkins, of Essendon, Victoria, was killed instantly – his head being blown clean off - by the direct hit of a Turkish shell on the dugout he was sheltering in. The exact position of his grave in Hill 10 Cemetery is unknown and he is commemorated by a special memorial.

The men of the RAN Bridging Train at Suvla Bay were the last Australians to evacuate the peninsula on 20 December 1915 at 4.30am, the last Australians having left the Anzac area at 4.10 am.

Paris.
== ~The American military attaché in Paris reports “mutterings against the leaders of the government and army”

The First Battle of the Marne.
==General fighting all along the line, from the vicinity of Paris to Lorraine

The First Battle of the Marne - The Far Northwestern Front.
==Northeast of Paris, after some initial gains by French 6th Army, Kluck’s right flank holds its ground [midmorning-afternoon]; heavy fighting at Etrépilly

The First Battle of the Marne - The BEF and Northwestern Fronts.
==The advancing I Corps on the right of the BEF begins to engage Kluck’s 1st Army [midmorning] - British II Corps begins to advance across the Grand Morin River [1100.PM]
==In response to pressure from the French 6th Army, Kluck skillfully transfers two of the four corps advancing southeast of Paris to his right flank; Bülow weakens his right [evening] - a dangerous gap is developing between the German 1st and 2nd Armies
==Along most of its front, the cautiously advancing French 5th Army easily pushes back the German 2nd Army’s right wing to Sep.07, taking Courgivaux - in 5th Army’s left wing, Petain takes Montceaux-les-Provins after hard fighting [evening]

The First Battle of the Marne - The Central Front.
==Foch’s 9th Army and Langle’s 4th Army are heavily engaged from Sézanne to Vitry le François: Foch is pushed south of the St. Gond Marshes
==A German attack briefly routes the left flank of Sarrail’s 3rd Army, stalling its planned offensive and taking Revigny
==The Germans are stalled at Beauzec near Verdun

The First Battle of the Marne - Lorraine.
==The Germans are checked at Jezanville near Pont-á-Mousson
==The German 7th Army is disbanded; part is sent to the right flank near Paris

The First Battle of the Marne - German Headquarters (OHL).
==A copy of Joffre’s order of Sep.04 falls into German hands [afternoon] - Moltke notifies his armies that they’re facing a general French counteroffensive

The diary of the 1st Middlesex Regiment records the day's march as follows: "Marched N. again almost over yesterday's ground via Ferrier almost to Chanteloup. After one hour's halt, midday, on to Villeneuve St. Denis, where Battalion bivouacked. In morning Lieut. Evatt and 90 men of first reinforcements joined." This sudden change of front is explained by Field-Marshal Sir John French's message to the troops, dated 6th September, 1914.

SPECIAL ORDER OF THE DAY BY FIELD-MARSHAL
SIR JOHN FRENCH, G.C.B., G.C.V.O., K.C.M.G.,
Commander-in-Chief, British Armies in the Field.

6th September.
After a most trying series of operations, mostly in retirement, which have been rendered necessary by the general strategic plan of the Allied Armies, the British Forces start today forward in line with their French comrades, ready to attack the enemy:

Foiled in their attempt to invest Paris, the Germans have been driven to move in an easterly and south-easterly direction, with the apparent intention of falling in strength on the Fifth French Army. In this operation they are exposing their right flank and their line of communication to an attack from the combined Sixth French Army and the British forces.
I call upon the British Army in France to now show the enemy its power, and to push on vigorously to the attack beside the Sixth French Army. I am sure I shall not call upon them in vain, but that, on the contrary, by another manifestation of the magnificent spirit which they have shown in the past fortnight, they will fall on the enemy's flank with all their strength, and in unison with their Allies, drive them back.

J.D. P. FRENCH,
Field-Marshal,
Commander-in-Chief, British Armies in the Field.

William Stockley Ward, jun., grocer, of 71, Winson Green Road, Birmingham, was fined £20 and costs at the Birmingham Police Court this morning for selling to Mrs. Rose Welters on August 26 2lb.of black currant and apple jam at 2s. 4d., the maximum price allowed to be charged being 1s. 9d. Mr. Norman Birkett, for the defence, urged that the overcharge was an inadvertence, the defendant being overworked as the result of his father breakdown in health.

Reginald Frederick Desmond Plunkett was born in Cairo in April 1898. He was in School House from 1912-16. At school he was a useful athlete, playing fives, rugby and cricket for the House. In rugby, he was on the losing side in the final of 1915, but in the summer of 1915, he was more fortunate on the cricket pitch. Playing alongside the mighty pairing of West and Sundius-Smith, who both made centuries in the semi-final, he helped School House to the title in a nervy finish in the final against Crosby. School House looked well set but in the end, limped home with one wicket to spare. Reggie Plunckett’s contribution was hardly spectacular, he scored just 8 runs and took one catch in this two innings match.

He also worked in the workshops in the summer holidays of 1915, working for an entire month rather than the expected two weeks. By December 1916, he had entered the Indian Army and after six months training, he was gazetted to the Gurkha Rifles and stationed in Quetta. He was then sent out to Mesopotamia and reached Basra in February 1917. He took part in the expedition up the Euphrates as far as Abu Hemal and was present at the engagement of Khan Baghdadi.

He was accidentally drowned while bathing in the Euphrates River on 6th September 1918, aged 20. His body was lost and he is now remembered on the Basra Memorial, alongside two other Oundelians, Donald Milne and Alan Scarth. His younger brother Humphrey, who was in New House for four years, also served in the Empire, also with the Gurkha Rifles and survived the War. Their parents died six days apart in May 1948.